Records of patients of Veterans Affairs Long Beach (Calif.) Hospital containing personal health information were found improperly disposed in a dumpster by the hospital, according to an ABC 7 report.
Paulnhu Nguyen, a patient of the hospital, found the stack of patient records in the dumpster after throwing out some trash into the same dumpster, according to the report.
The records included full patient names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, according to the report.
Mr. Nguyen said he alerted a VA employee who then called the VA police to collect the documents and file a report.
VA officials are conducting an investigation to determine what information was contained in the documents, the circumstances of the disposal and next steps to further protect sensitive information, according to the report.
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